"The whole aim of practical politics is to keep the populace alarmed (and hence clamorous to be led to safety) by menacing it with an endless series of hobgoblins, all of them imaginary." ~ H.L. Mencken
What Business is it of Mine How You Raise Your Kids?
Libertarian philosopher Stefan Molyneaux is concerned about your parenting skills.
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A very interesting clip, Don. Stefan is usually top-rate, but this one leaves me a bit uncomfortable. Where do the lines of responsibility lie, in the matter of child-raising?
A teenager turns out bad; he steals and assaults people. Are his parents to blame, or is he? Even more puzzling, a couple raises two boys, using identical methods; one turns out productive and benevolent, the other follows a life of crime (the real sort.) Why?
Parenting is certainly one powerful factor in character formation, but at some time between birth and adult-hood the new human makes his or her own choices and becomes responsible for them. If it were otherwise, all the evil choices people make could be blamed on Eve. I can't square that with the axiom of self-ownership.
You pose several excellent questions to which, unfortunately, I do not have excellent answers.